In Memory of A Good ol’ Boy Touched by an Angel

From our December 13, 2023 Edition  

By Emily Patrick

If you’re looking for a feel-good story this holiday season, we’ve got you covered. After all, what could be more of a Christmas miracle than a good ol’ woods boy from Shirley, Maine being turned into a quilter after being touched by an angel?

   No, I didn’t make this up. This is what happened to one of Moosehead’s own, Ben Nye. Ben was born in Greenville back when they still delivered babies here. He lived all over the Moosehead Region, from Pittston Farm to Shirley before joining the service in 1971. He served until 1974, being stationed at West Point for a year and a half and Germany for the same amount of time. After the service, he came back home and worked for a number of independent logging companies in the Moosehead Region. He was working for Jack Whittier when he got sick. As Ben tells it, his whole body shut down and he couldn’t move.

   He was at the VA hospital in Togus when he was put on hospice care. Though he wasn’t aware at the time, the doctors had given him just two days to live. This was back in 2014. While he was in hospice, he had a vision. Some sort of being, or angel, came from behind Ben, touched him on the shoulder, looked at him and smiled. The angel conveyed to him without speaking that God wasn’t done with him just yet. Ben told me today it’s hard to tell just how many lives he has been able to impact because the Lord had plans for him than dying in a VA hospital.

   After his encounter with the angel, Ben made a rather miraculous recovery, though he also credits the outstanding doctors and nurses, volunteers, visitors and friends at the Togus VA Medical Center for his still being alive today. Though Ben himself is very humble, he makes sure to give credit and point out everyone who helped him along the way, no matter how small their role may have been. He lived in Augusta and then Old Town before moving back to Greenville and met a handful of people who had ties to Greenville along the way, which just goes to show what a “small world” (or state) we live in and how the ties in this community bind us forever.

   In Old Town, Ben met a pair of ladies who were sewing quilts for the elderly and otherwise home-bound folks. Ben decided to try his hand at sewing, if for no other reason than he saw it as a way to pay forward the kindness that had been shown to him. He brought this skill with him back to his hometown and now teaches sewing classes at the Public Library in Greenville, though he says, “The lady at the library calls me a teacher but no, I’m not a teacher, just a guide and learning myself.”

   Ben has donated quilts to many causes. He’s never gotten any money for them; he says “[The] biggest thing I get is the smile and appreciation I get for giving people a gift.” He’s donated about 15 quilts to the Togus VA hospice program where a visit from an angel and some angels on Earth saved his life years ago. He’s donated to friends all over the country and over a dozen to people at Pritham Park in Greenville. Wherever Ben sees a need, he’s happy to help. In fact, I got the impression from Ben it may have been the thought of helping others that truly saved his life. He says he prays each night and asks God to show him what to do next, who to help. He told me, “[I] don’t know what the Hell I’m doing, just trying to make people happy and pay it forward.” He’s willing to do whatever the Lord sees fit, crazy as it may seem. I asked him if he ever would have guessed he’d be sewing quilts for people in need and he laughed, muttered a mild expletive and said no, he always worked in the woods and with heavy equipment, who would’ve ever thought?

   Contact the Public Library in Greenville if you’re interested in learning more about their sewing classes!